Perspectives sur les enjeux contemporains | More Perspective on Current International Issues

Play fighting is very common in young children and research suggests there might even be benefits to play fighting for early child development. Even though play fighting resembles real fighting and its roughness is often perceived by adults as problematic, recent findings have us to reconsider whether it is really as bad as it may […]

In On Becoming Cuban (1), Louis A. Pérez Jr. attempts to provide an encompassing account of the relationship between Cuba and North America and the resulting trends in the formation and development of Cuban national identity. Like many previous events, the retirement of Fidel Castro launched a series of predictions of imminent change in Cuba; […]

Aboriginal people have harvested throughout North America for thousands of years. National parks, which have long been places of refuge for stressed ecosystems, have normally prohibited such traditional practices. Concurrent developments in Aboriginal rights and ecological thinking have put pressure on parks to allow Aboriginal harvesting. What does this mean both for national parks and […]

Omar Khadr’s detention at Guantanamo Bay raises a number of issues. Whether or not he is guilty of the charges he stands accused of, the circumstances and legality of his detainment shake the very foundations of justice that are allegedly being protected. Furthermore, the silence of the Canadian government on the matter betrays Canadian principles […]

‘Mad,’ ‘Psychiatric Survivor,’ ‘Crazy,’ ‘Lunatic,’ and ‘Inmate’ are terms being (re)claimed by those who are a part of a human rights movement resisting ‘normal’ culture and reformulating what it means to be a person who has been labeled and treated as crazy. Two separate events – one in July, the other in September – will […]

Bisphenol-A (BPA) made headlines late in 2007 when Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) suspended sales of bottles made using the chemical. MEC cited growing consumer concern that BPA may leach from polycarbonate bottles (1). In the last six months retailers such as Walmart, Lululemon and Canadian Tire have all pulled or stopped stocking selected BPA-containing products, […]

Terrorism has ruined the fiction market, according to publishers. The book-buying public descends on titles like The Post-American World and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, and fiction is cast once again as something pleasant and childish to be put aside when things get serious. Author and sculptor D. L. Alvarez, writing from […]

How many planets are there in our solar system? This would be a relatively easy question, were we to forget the demotion of Pluto to minor planet status in 2006. What about the planets outside of our solar system? Could any of those planets support life as we know it here on earth? Ian Davis, […]

Stories have a role to play in environmental debates and problem-solving because they help to engage a wide range of voices and perspectives. Literary writing in particular provides a means of exploring the nuances and complexities of environmental issues. In this context, how might stories enable us to re-imagine our ways of living in response […]

The campaign to expose the hidden history of genocide in Canada opened a new front recently, when hereditary Squamish Chief Kiapilano ordered the churches that directed the horrific Indian residential schools off his territory, and his followers began a series of occupations and protests to enforce his eviction order. In this article, Kevin Annett describes […]

Cyclone Nargis is not the first tragedy to befall the Burmese. The oppressive, violent rule of the military junta has been under international scrutiny for the past twenty years. Now, after Cyclone Nargis, that same regime is responsible for providing relief to those affected by the cyclone and managing millions of foreign aid. But does […]

Social interaction depends on the ability to recognize the beliefs, knowledge and experiences that determine the actions of others. How we gather this abstract information was largely unknown before the last decade,when researchers discovered mirror neurons in the monkey brain. In the decade following this discovery, these neurons have been implicated in a host of […]

Scientists in New York have recently constructed a blanket of carbon nanotubes shown to be the blackest material ever made, or, put another way, a nearly perfect anti-mirror. Nanotubes seem to have found their way into the spotlight yet again, but this time, these tubes are taking it all for themselves. Kevin Krejci, Mirrors in […]

In an effort to detect oncoming enemy aircraft by means of acoustic amplification of the propellers’ drone, Britain built a series of concrete Sound Mirrors between 1915-1935. Primitive, massive and accidentally sculptural, the Sound Mirrors represent a lost link in the transformation of modern warfare. Although now obsolete, the mysterious structures still loom over the […]

Social trends and consumer preferences appear to spell the end of the suburbs and the resurgence of downtown living, but for many, suburbia is not a lifestyle choice. In Toronto, the suburbs are only now becoming what they have long been in Europe: the subordinated pole in the centre-periphery relation. ashley, SUBURBIA, 2006 Certains droits […]